


Malfunction

by One_Real_Imonkey



Series: Twisted Memories AU [17]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, CT-5385 | Tup Needs a Hug, CT-6116 | Kix is a Good Bro, Clone Trooper Inhibitor Chips (Star Wars), Disability, Family, Good Parent Jango Fett, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Mind Control, Worried Jango Fett, hurt Tup, rotted clone chips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29524890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/One_Real_Imonkey/pseuds/One_Real_Imonkey
Summary: Unbeknownst to anyone, not the Sith, not the Mandalorians, not the Jedi, definitely not the long dead Kaminoans, some of the chips in the Vode's heads are beginning to rot. It's starting to effect a few of the Vode, but none of the doctors can work out the cause.The war is nearly over the day Jango almost trips over Tup, unconscious on the floor.
Relationships: Jango Fett & CT-5385 | Tup, Jango Fett/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Series: Twisted Memories AU [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2146377
Comments: 14
Kudos: 244





	Malfunction

**Author's Note:**

> Ohhhhhhhhh, it's happening. I've had this one sitting ready for a while.  
> I don't own Star Wars.  
> Please enjoy.

The war was almost over. 

Jango would repeat that as many times as he had to for it to sink in, and many more for the pleasure of saying it. 

After three years, the war was finally, nearly over. 

Dooku may have been dead for a while, but the CIS’ phantom leader had kept them going, and their councils and Generals had continued their war efforts, Death Watch by their sides. But now they had whittled them down to the last of their main leadership besides the absent Sidious. 

Obi-Wan had set off for Utapau, and Grievous, the last of the Separatist leaders. 

Ahsoka was in Sundari, so close he could practically hug her, chasing after the rogue Sith Maul and his Death Watch escort with the 332nd and strong squad of Haat’ad ori’ramikad. 

It would soon be over. 

His boys would be safe and able to settle, his riduur would be home, his ade would be home or at the very least free to go where they wanted to go and to do what they wanted to do. He'd have bu’ade and he’d beg Ani to let him see them if he had to. 

Ani, Ka’ra, what he wouldn’t give to make up with his eldest, every time it felt like they were getting closer, something happened to knock them back again. Every time it felt like he was making progress, it would all just disappear. He just wanted his son back... 

He was so caught up in his musings, he almost tripped over the person on the floor, sprawled motionless in the corridor. 

He dropped to his knees, finding no injury on his boy, but he was unconscious none the less. 

“Tup? Tup’ika.” 

Tup had been grounded on Manda’yaim for months now, with a slowly but steadily worsening illness they hadn’t managed to find the cause of. Sudden weakness, pain or numbness in his arm or leg, ringing in his ear, blurry vision in one eye, dizzy spells and headaches. He couldn’t fight, and after a few other of the Vode had started presenting similar symptoms, he’d put his foot down. Any and all Vode who displayed similar symptoms were to be sent back to Manda’yaim, for their own safety and the safety of their brothers. They hadn’t managed to find a cause, and with almost 100 Vode starting to display the same signs, Jango had been starting to really worry that all his ade could be at risk from this. 

This was probably illness related rather than an intruder, an attack, after all there was no clear injury and these boys didn’t go down easily, but he kept his awareness around him just in case. He wouldn’t put it past members of Death Watch to attack one of his ade to draw him out, knowing a paternal panic would lower his guard. They'd done it before in an attempt to use him to weaken Jaster when he’d been a child, managed to get someone into their home and attacked him in the corridor, left him for his Buir to find so they could attack from behind while he was being checked over. 

Cowards. 

Still, no-one jumped him, and with the history of this illness, it was likely to do with that. 

Just as he was reaching for his comm for a baar’ur, Tup began to stir. He still called them, but he focused his attention on his ad’ika. 

“B...Buir?" 

“Woah, hey,” he helped Tup’ika sit, as much as he probably should had stayed lying down his boys were as headstrong as he was, and he leant him against the wall, drawing the line at letting him try to stand, “Tup’ika, what happened? Are you alright? How do you feel?” 

“You sound like Kix. I’m fine Buir, I just... I got dizzy for a second.” 

“For a second, Tup’ika you were passed out on the floor.” Who knows how long for, he didn’t add. 

“Oh.” 

His boy’s voice was small as he dropped his head against the wall, one leg bent, the other straight and pressed his eyes shut, pressing his palm into his forehead. Where were those kriffing baar’ur? 

“Buir, my head hurts.” 

The Vode didn’t get migraines, they didn’t have headaches, it was something the Kaminoans had _engineered_ out of them. 

“Don’t worry, the baar’ur are on their way." 

“Buir... I feel wrong. I don’t feel like me.” 

Tup's eyes were rolling, and he was slumping again, like consciousness was too hard to keep a grasp on. 

“Tup’ika? Tup'ika I need you to try to stay awake for me.” 

“Good... ord... good... good... follow...” 

“Tup, what? Good what?” 

Tup's shoulders kept tensing, and he was rolling his whole head now. Whatever this was, it was worse than anything that had happened so far. 

“Tup! Buir, what happened?” 

Kix, oh thank Ka’ra, and with him a few others, the baar’ure were here. 

“I found him collapsed, he woke up, said he’d been dizzy, then he started looking like he was passing out, and muttering. He said his head hurt.” 

“Ok, let’s get him on a stretcher and to medical.” 

Tup continued to mutter as he was lain down and loaded onto the stretcher, grasping Kix’s hand almost desperately as his body started to convulse. 

“...soldiers... orders... good soldiers...” 

“He’s seizing, let’s go.” 

“You’re ok Tup, we’ll work this out.” 

“...good... good soldiers... good... follow...” 

“Hold on, Tup.” 

Please, Ad’ika, hold on. 

. 

. 

. 

Jango had to wait almost a day for any sort of answer and it drove him insane. Not only did he have his ade to worry about, with the war where it was more and more of his allit were comm silent or out of range. He couldn’t even call his cyare to tell him what was wrong with their ade, and though he still had people like Myles around to help and guide him, he couldn’t help but feel a little lost. 

Parental worry, Myles had said, Jaster had been the same way when he’d fallen sick or been injured as a child. 

“I don’t remember ever feeling this useless when Ani got sick?” 

“You weren’t running the whole system then, you had your riduur with you, rather than who knows where in a war, and Jango, Ani never passed out in the corridor, only to start seizing in your arms." 

“Kriff, I'm so worried Myles. And Tup, he’s sick, but he's not the only one. He's the worst, but he’s not alone. I could lose them all to this.” 

“I know, Jango, I know.” 

Myles had placed a hand on his shoulder and sat with him for a while, before promising he could manage Mandalore for a day or two, and that Jango should just worry about being a Buir. Jaster had done the same, once, it would be completely understood. 

“Jango, I also remember you driving everyone insane for days once when Ani got a bad flu, before ‘someone’ took you to the sparing matts and helped you get rid of the stress. That offer’s still open.” 

Myles had knocked him round the training matts the worst time Ani had been sick, but Obi had been by his side then. 

He needed to stay by his ad, his ade. 

So stayed he did, until another of his ade, Kix, came to bring him the news. Kix had decided to be stationed with Tup on Manda’yaim, citing his having more experience with what was affecting his vod than anyone else and so he wouldn’t be alone. 

“Kix? Have you worked out what was wrong?” 

“Honestly Buir, I'm not... I don’t know. I mean we have, but this...” 

“He’s never passed out before, none of them have. They're getting worse, aren’t they?” 

“No, none of them have ever passed out before but we have found something, in all of them, not just in Tup.” 

“All of them?” 

“And in me, and every vod here that we’ve checked so far. We’ve missed them on every scan before now, up to now, and we nearly missed them this time. Buir, we have chips in our heads.” 

“Chips...?” 

Chips. What kind of chips, what were they doing to his boys, when had they been chipped, what had those Demagolka Kaminoans done to his ade? His eyes flew to the small patch on Kix’s forehead... 

There were chips in his ade’s heads! 

Chips that were making them sick. 

“Lek, we’ve taken Tup’s out, and most of the other sick Vode’s. Mine too, for comparison. Buir, they were sick because they’d rotted, they were biochips. We have no real idea at the moment why they were put in our heads, what they were for, but the rot was... Buir, I don’t know if we can fix the damage the most rotted chips did. I, we, don’t think they’ll get worse, but we’re not sure if they’ll get better, even now it’s gone.” 

“Do you think they served any purpose, has removing them done any damage?” 

“Near as we can tell, they were supposed to alter hormone levels, we’re guessing for compliance, maybe to aid with the accelerated aging and other things like that to do with our growth and strength and all that, but without study we won’t know if there were other reasons. And there’s been no bad effects of removing them so far. Leaving them in was more dangerous for the rotting ones, and we needed one or two healthy ones for comparison.” 

“You volunteered?” 

“Far as Baar’ur Quest can tell, I'm suffering no adverse effects to it being gone. They were a way to regulate and manipulate our hormones as far as we can tell, and our brains can do that healthily without them. And yes, I volunteered.” 

“Then start getting them out, if there’s no ill effects, get the message to the other battalions so we can get them out before they start rotting too.” 

“Lek Buir. Come on, Tup’s through here. And Buir, sit on his right.” 

Tup was awake, which was better than when Jango’d last seen him, only a day before, but Jango couldn’t help but notice that only one of Tup’s eyes found him. 

“Buir, sorry I scared you.” 

“My job as Buir is to worry, and as ade, unfortunately, your job is to worry me. I'm just so sorry we didn’t find this sooner.” 

“Kix and Baar’ur Qest tell me that they nearly missed it, even with a Level 5 atomic scan. That these things weren’t meant to be found.” 

“That doesn’t mean I don’t wish we hadn’t found them earlier.” 

“Buir, it’ll be fine. We've found them now, and that means we can help the others. It wasn’t too late.” 

“Tup’ika...” 

“There are ways to help fix peoples sight and hearing, and give me back the use of my arm and leg, and if they can’t, I'll adapt. War’s almost over, right? I was going to have to find something else to do anyway.” 

“You’re right, war’s almost over.” 

It's almost over. 

Tup dropped his head on Jango’s shoulder. 

The war was almost over. 

**Author's Note:**

> Mando'a:  
> Haat'ad ori'ramikad- True Mandalorian Supercommandos  
> riduur-spouse  
> Ade- children  
> bu'ade- grandchildren  
> Ka'ra- mythical ancient council of elders/stars  
> Tup'ika- little Tup, affectionate  
> Manda'yaim- Mandalore (the planet)  
> Vode- siblings/ clones  
> baar'ur- doctor  
> ad'ika- child/ young child, affectionate.  
> Buir- parent  
> Baar'ure- doctors  
> aliit- family  
> cyare- beloved  
> ad- child  
> vod- sibling  
> demagolka- child abuser/war criminal, worst insult there is.  
> Lek- yeah
> 
>   
> Dun Dun Dun...  
> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed.  
> My Tumblr is One_Real_Imonkey.  
> Please R+R.


End file.
